Principles of Life

The Mughal prince, Aurangzeb, came into conflict with his father, Shahjahan, over certain political matters. He, therefore, dethroned Shahjahan and imprisoned him in the fort at Agra in 1658, where he was kept in close confinement and deprived of even the common necessities of life. He could only while away his time by contemplating the Taj Mahal from the fort and reciting poems.

“An Advanced History of India,” compiled by Dr. R.C. Majumdar, Dr. H.C. Raychaudhuri and Dr. Kalinkar Dutta describes the final days of Shahjahan in these words:

A man came before the Prophet Muhammad and asked him for some advice. “Will you heed the advice?” the Prophet asked him. The man said that he would. The Prophet said to him: “When you decide on some action, think of its consequences. If they are good, go ahead with it: and if they are bad, refrain from it.”

While we give careful consideration to what we say to or about our superiors or those who please us, we do not stop to think of what we say to or about our inferiors of those who displease us.

The Prophet has been recorded as saying: “A man sometimes says something to which he has not given due consideration and, because of this, he falls into the Fire — a distance further than that between east and west.”

For about twenty years, between 1950 and 1970, Japan used to import superior industrial technology from the west, at times by outright purchase, but more often by borrowing, or on a credit basis. As a result, Japan today stands on its own feet economically and is in a position to export not only its goods but also its know-how to other countries.